This invention generally relates to planter boxes and more particularly relates to a portable transplant planter box for use in moving trees, plant material, etc., and in controlling or manipulating transplanted trees to proper health and chemical balance before replanting.
Tree boxing or moving of large plant materials, such as trees, is a common practice that has been well known in the art for many years. One form of prior art tree boxing generally includes digging a hand dug hole around a tree and pruning or cutting the root system at a predetermined distance from the trunk of the plant material until a ball shape is formed. A box is built around the ball and made as rigid as possible. Next these prior art boxes have to be under dug so the box can have a bottom constructed to ensure that the ball of earth surrounding the tree does not fall through the hole at the bottom of the tree box. Once the bottom is on they can then get under the box and lift from the bottom of the tree box to remove it from the hole. Then the root ball and plant material is placed on a trailer, truck or other machinery in an upward position standing vertically. The use of these prior art tree boxes work fine for trees that have to be moved short distances to a new site, however the tree box has to be kept in a vertical upright position thus limiting the ability to move it long distances.
Other prior art methods are also known for moving large trees or other plant material. One other such method is a hand digging method where the tree is hand dug and wrapped by hand into a ball, this method is also known as the drum, lace and tie method. This method for transplanting large trees is very labor intensive due to the number of people needed to hand dig through all feeder roots and root systems to form a ball of suitable size around the tree or plant material. During hand digging the tree ball is wrapped in burlap and the burlap is secured via twine or other decomposable material to help assist in keeping the earth around the tree roots in the root ball. Any known method for cutting the roots at the bottom of the ball is used in hand digging such as using a metal cable that is pulled under the root ball to cut any roots that may extend in a downward direction from the root ball. After the root ball is wrapped a mechanical device, such as a truck, tractor, hi-lo, etc., is used to pull the tree ball and tree up an inclined ramp, which is also hand dug, to the new location for the tree. The problem with hand digging and wrapping the root ball is that the wrapping material is not very sturdy and also the tree must be removed from the site while the tree is dormant which limits it to predetermined seasons in the tree cycle depending on the region that the tree is located. In the far northern states large trees can only be transplanted in early spring or late fall. Furthermore, during storage of a hand dug tree in wood chips or other natural material feeder roots may begin to grow and break through the wrap thus increasing stress on the transplanted tree when it is finally placed at its new location because the new roots that extend from the burlap sack must be removed thus effecting the growth, livelihood and overall health of the tree being moved after its relocation.
There is also known in the prior art the use of tree a spade to remove trees. The tree spade is generally attached to a truck or other machinery. A tree spade is placed over a tree and digs a predetermined width and depth hole around the plant material or tree being moved. The transplanted tree is held within the blades of the tree spade for transportation to the new tree site. Tree spades are very effective during the dormant season of trees and are capable of moving trees short distances without causing too much stress to the transplanted tree. However, tree spades constantly hold the tree from the excavated site to the new transplant site and are not capable of placing the tree into a temporary storage unit to bring the tree back to a desired health before transplantation occurs.
Therefore, there are disadvantages to all of the above known methods for transplanting trees. Once such disadvantage is that the plant material can only be transplanted during the dormant stages of the plant material which reduces the time for transplanting the plant material and the time for decision making on the part of the owner for the transplanting of such plant material. Furthermore, the cost of hand digging and wrapping a tree can be exorbitant to some people thus leading to purchase of smaller trees and not transplanting of established trees. The use of tree boxes is also labor intensive due to all of the digging needed and the building of the box and the building of a sub floor along with the restrictions on moving the tree in an upright or vertical position to ensure that the tree ball does not disintegrate during moving or transplantation of the tree. The loss of earth from around a tree ball during transplanting of a tree adversely affects the odds of the tree surviving any such transplanting. It should be noted that problems have also been encountered with tree spading because of the hydraulic spade blades used to sever the roots of the tree system. The hydraulic system tends to shatter the roots and not make clean cuts through the feeder system of the roots. This degrades the root system and causes shock to the tree during the transplantation thereof. Also none of the prior art systems for transplanting trees are capable of lifting these trees from a top portion of the root ball of planter boxes. This restricts the type of machinery that can be used to transplant trees and the overall sizes of trees depending on the rating of such machinery. Furthermore, all of these prior art methods do not create a captive root system that is capable of being controlled and managed such that the tree can have a certain health and growing medium before transplanting into its new site.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved transplanter box that is capable of easy installation and easy use for transplanting a tree. There also is a need in the art for a transplanter box that does not need to have a bottom inserted therein in order to remove a tree from a hole. There also is a need in the art for a transplanter box that is capable of being adjusted to different sized root balls or trees and the like. There also is a need in the art for multiple size tree transplanter boxes that are capable of being transported, at a predetermined optimum angle for moving trees, from location to location or stored at a location away from the transplant site.
There also is a need in the art for the ability to nurse and control or manipulate trees after initial removal from the ground such that the trees health and growing medium can have its ph, nutrients and other soil components brought to a desired level. This will increase the survivability of the tree and reduce transplant shock of the tree once it is placed in its new site. None of the prior art systems have a captive root system that is capable of being systemically monitored and fed with nutrients, herbicides and the like directly into the soil to increase the survivability and health of such a transplanted tree during the time that the tree is in temporary storage before it is planted at the new site.